Do we give them reasons to choose to buy a home in Cecil County?

Last spring, a co-worker who was new to the company and to Maryland stopped me to talk about buying a home in Cecil County. He lived in the Philadelphia area and was researching available waterfront homes in Harford and Cecil Counties. One of the first thoughts that ran through my head was “I hope he doesn’t have school age children because our school facilities can’t compare to those in many areas of Pennsylvania.”

Just a few weeks ago, another new co-worker who’s lived in Harford County for most of her life, asked about living in Cecil County. She was especially interested because she felt home prices were generally lower over here. Her daughter is 5 or 6 and we were talking about Perryville so I was able to tell her that the Perryville Elementary School was being completely renovated. But how would the facilities at rest of our elementary schools measure up?

I can only wonder how many prospective buyers might have driven by one of our schools and decided against buying a home in Cecil County.

Cecil County Missed Opportunities for BRAC Relocations

While it doesn’t appear that either Harford or Cecil County enjoyed the boom in growth and influx of new home buyers that were projected with the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) activity of a few years ago, Cecil County surely missed out on some of the opportunities:

“Anecdotally, I know several individuals who had to relocate to the area for their jobs with the Army. No one, not one, of those people relocated to Cecil County. The predominate reason was the school systems. I can see their point. When we visit Harford County schools for events, we are regularly hosted on turf fields with first-rate bleachers, scoring systems, and field houses. The buildings are crisp and clean, and promote an atmosphere of professionalism that carries through to a more positive and motivational experience for everyone.”

In the case above, six families chose to relocate to Harford County instead of Cecil. What a lost opportunity for Cecil County to attract new residents with stable jobs in technical fields.

Schools Impact Home Buying Decisions (and Resale Values)

We can all agree that education is about much more than buildings and athletic fields but those factors contribute to the home buying decision and the education experience as a whole. A school could have the highest test scores and graduation rates in the state and its graduates could receive merit-based scholarships to the best colleges in the country but the appearance and amenities of the school would still weigh heavily in the decision of a family with school age children looking to buy a home.

Here’s one description of the relationship between schools and home buying: “…consumer demand is large enough that we can conclude that good schools do increase home values in some measure. Half of the home-buying population is willing to pay more than their intended budget to get into the right school district, and more than half would give up other amenities.”

This is significant even if you don’t have children in school because a quality school system means a higher potential resale value on your home.

It’s Time to Treat Our Schools Like A Strategic Priority

Education is identified as one of the five strategic priorities in the Cecil County 2014-2019 Strategic Plan that was adopted in April 2014:

“Education is a driving force in producing strong and active citizens. It creates a pathway to instilling character and the highest standards of citizenship. Therefore, education funding as an investment to yield economic benefits and engaged citizens, is a priority for the County.”

More than six months later, I’m not sure I’ve seen progress towards making education a priority. It’s time to treat our schools like the assets that they are rather than as an expense.

Budget Planning for FY 2016

Planning for the 2016 fiscal year is already underway and meetings to discuss budgetary needs and priorities will begin next week. If you believe a strong school system is foundation of a vital community and economy, I ask you to reach out to our county officials to let them know where you stand.

Contact the County Executive and members of the County Council today.

County Executive	Tari Moore	[email protected]
County Council	Alan McCarthy	[email protected]
	Joyce Bowlsbey	[email protected]
	Dan Schneckenburger	[email protected]
	George Patchell	[email protected]
	Robert Hodge	[email protected]

To make it easier, just copy these email addresses and paste them into an email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

References